Kaffis Mark V wrote:
I have a working theory:
2016 isn't special. Of course it's not sentient, but I suspect it's not actually outrageously celebrity-deathful, either.
What we're seeing is a confluence of social media, the Internet generation getting old enough that celebrities they recognize are dying in larger quantities, and an increasing focus on celebrity gossip (this one is probably a few decades old -- the point is that we didn't have as large a cult of celebrity for celebrity's sake thing going on surrounding celebrities in the 50's and 60's, so now we're seeing a larger pool of old "celebrities") and keeping minor celebrities in the collective consciousness more (as exemplified in their appearance on reality TV shows and celebrity versions of competition shows and the like).
It's not that a bunch of celebrities died this year. (Well, it is, but not that more than usual did.) So 2016 isn't a particularly bloodthirsty year, it's just that we're now guaranteed to hear about every single person that died because it pops up on our feeds within twenty-four hours or less, and does so from multiple sources.
Maybe couple that with a few early higher profile ones (like Bowie and Prince) to establish the meme, and it gets exacerbated.
In short... I don't think 2017 is going to seem any better, folks. This is the new normal -- you'll hear about, and somebody you know will declare they're absolutely devastated by, every single person you might have heard of or seen in a movie or something. And they'll keep on coming.
2016 isn't special. Of course it's not sentient, but I suspect it's not actually outrageously celebrity-deathful, either.
What we're seeing is a confluence of social media, the Internet generation getting old enough that celebrities they recognize are dying in larger quantities, and an increasing focus on celebrity gossip (this one is probably a few decades old -- the point is that we didn't have as large a cult of celebrity for celebrity's sake thing going on surrounding celebrities in the 50's and 60's, so now we're seeing a larger pool of old "celebrities") and keeping minor celebrities in the collective consciousness more (as exemplified in their appearance on reality TV shows and celebrity versions of competition shows and the like).
It's not that a bunch of celebrities died this year. (Well, it is, but not that more than usual did.) So 2016 isn't a particularly bloodthirsty year, it's just that we're now guaranteed to hear about every single person that died because it pops up on our feeds within twenty-four hours or less, and does so from multiple sources.
Maybe couple that with a few early higher profile ones (like Bowie and Prince) to establish the meme, and it gets exacerbated.
In short... I don't think 2017 is going to seem any better, folks. This is the new normal -- you'll hear about, and somebody you know will declare they're absolutely devastated by, every single person you might have heard of or seen in a movie or something. And they'll keep on coming.
This feels a bit "preachy" given what has been written in this thread so far. Did I miss something?
